mcconnell: a few weeks ago president obama reported that -- a few weeks ago president obama reportedly said that america doesn't have a spending problem. this is completely at odds with what independent experts tell us and what is perfectly apparent to anybody who is alert. and last week i brought this chart behind me to the floor to illustrate the point. as everyone knows, we're running trillion-dollar annual deficits. what this chart shows is the gap between government spending and revenue just keeps getting wider and wider and wider. so let's take a look at it. the occupant of the chair is relatively new to the senate, but not new to the facts. the green area here represents both historic and projected tax revenue. the blue area here, the dark blue area, as you can see, really kind of flat line flatlit here to 2014, is the new revenue that the president got at the end of the new year as a result of the law. the tax rates sunsetted, expired at midnight on new year's eve. the congress then wisely continued the current tax rates for 99% of americans, made those rates permanent so you w